The US economy is in serious trouble, and it's hard to pass a newspaper without seeing a headline indicating that "the good times are over." While it is impossible to predict the depths of the current economic slowdown, how long it will last, or its ultimate effects on the so-called "search ecosystem," it's clear that many marketers will need to take steps to adapt to the rigors of this new climate.

Microsoft's acquisition of Fast Search & Transfer last week for $1.2 billion is a development that will significantly alter the search ecosystem in the years ahead. While the media coverage has focused on the fact that Fast has been a strong player in enterprise search (a market that Google has been struggling to get into), Fast's assets include a set of technologies that have the potential for giving Microsoft tactical and strategic advantages as it battles Google on several important fronts.

I want to counter the idea that big ad agencies should be taken seriously when they claim they know how to run search campaigns. The question "Do big agencies get search?" was settled a long time ago. They don't get it, they can't get it, and they shouldn't get it.

It's common knowledge that CMOs are among the industry's shortest-tenured marketing professionals, with an average employment lifespan of just two years. Much has been written about this problem: Some blame the mess on unrealistically high expectations placed on CMOs by senior management, while others cite the silly "CMO as Rock Star" phenomenon, which leads to back-biting and sabotaging within the organization.

Search engines put an extraordinarily powerful set of targeting technologies in the hands of marketers, but the mere provision of these tools does not guarantee they will be successfully operated.

The big talk on Madison Avenue last week was about Dell, which announced that it will consolidate its $1.5 billion yearly account into a new 1,000-person entity code-named "Da Vinci", that will be built out in the next few months from within the giant WPP holding company.

Let's face it, we direct marketers have a heck of a reputation issue to deal with. Sorry to be blunt about this, but millions of Americans think the DM industry is populated by underhanded data-mongers who don't care a whit about privacy and practice deception on a daily basis.

Advertising Specialty Institute is a media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of 24,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.

Here's a true story — the names have been changed to protect the guilty. A major retailer hires the World's Greatest Ad Agency as its agency of record to handle its all-important Holiday campaign (after dumping the World's Second Greatest Ad Agency).

Every Search Engine Marketing agency wants your business, which is natural in a competitive environment. The problem is that too many SEM agencies are all too willing to lowball themselves to win this business, and ultimately, both the agency and the client get hurt.